While Type A people are competitive, impatient, and achievement-oriented, Type B people are the opposite, exhibiting a high degree of flexibility, relationship orientation, and a generally laid-back attitude. According to Perpetua Neo, MD, clinical psychologist, DClinPsy, Type B people are like an “energetic retreat from the world,” seemingly impervious to any external disturbance.

And as licensed therapist De-Andrea Blaylock-Solar, MSW, LCSW-S, CST tells mindbodygreen, Type B people like to go with the flow, take things as they come, and not worry too much about planning or having an orderly structure to their lives.

Flexible and friendly, “they can be seen as quite charismatic and just very outgoing and energetic,” Blaylock-Solar previously told mindbodygreen.

The terms “type A” (or type A behavior pattern, TABP) and “type B” were first coined in the 1950s by two cardiologists, Meyer Friedman and Ray Rosenman, who actually argued that TABP is risk factor 1 for ischemic heart disease. The theory was that TABP’s connection to stress might mean bad news for heart health, but the connection between the two has since been further studied and somewhat debunked over time.

However, as far as personality typing is concerned, the differences between the two types definitely make for very different people.